31-year-old letter from David Brooks on Donald Trump surfaces: 'I like the a**hole'

Greg P. | 10:52 PM on June 10, 2018

Bloomberg opinion writer Joe Nocera took us down memory lane today with this 31-year-old letter from then WSJ book review editor David Brooks who hired Nocera to do a book review on Donald Trump’s, “Art of the Deal.”

According to the letter, Brooks thought Trump was a liable “a**hole” because “he makes life interesting, and by dreaming big, and getting things done, he makes city government look foolish”:

31 years ago, a young book review editor at ⁦@WSJ⁩ , a fella named David Brooks, assigned me "The Art of the Deal" to review. Here's his assignment letter, which I came across in the midst of a purge. Oh, such innocent times! pic.twitter.com/h4wZzFsQLm

— Joe Nocera (@opinion_joe) June 10, 2018

At the time, city government was David Dinkins so this was a very early use of — and maybe the first? — “…to own the libs”:

lol even then owning the libs was a selling point https://t.co/vkI6tHKRYt

— Patrick Hruby (@patrick_hruby) June 10, 2018

Others were pretty impressed with how much Nocera made per word as a freelancer back then, and how it’s the same amount that freelancers are paid now:

This is a valuable document for a number of reasons, including the rate, which would still be pretty plumb today (which is kind of a bummer). https://t.co/nTD6QjOEBL

— Noel Murray (@NoelMu) June 10, 2018

As proved by this letter, one thing hasn't changed in 31 years of #journalism:
–The amount paid for a book review. https://t.co/jgfEBO1Dcl

— Jonah Blank (@JonahBlank) June 10, 2018